Electro-magnetic relay comprising a number of bridge contacts carried by a sliding bar



Oct. 4, 1966 A G. FAFFART ETAL 3, 5 10 ELECTRO-MAGNETIdRELAY COMPRISING A NUMBER OF BRIDG CONTACTS CARRIED BY A SLIDING BAR Filed Aug. 51, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q ,gffj/ ,7,'/ ,4 1

R Q N v I INVENTORS ANDRE G. FAFFART SERGE M. RENOUX KFIRL O Hoe/(s BY ATTORNEY Oct. 4, 1966 A G. FAFFART ETAL 3 2 77,4l0

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC RELAY COMPRISING A NUMBER OF BRIDG CONTACTS CARRIED BY A SLIDING BAR Filed Aug. 31, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 1/ M /4 /5 aces an 88 l INVENTORS ANDRE G. FAFFART SERGE M. RENOUX ATTORNEY Oct. 4, 1966 A. s. FAFFART ETAL. 3,277,410 ELECTED-MAGNETIC RELAY COMPRISING A NUMBER OF BRIDGE CONTACTS CARRIED BY A SLIDING BAR Filed Aug. 31, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

3 4?, 3 M g (a a I INVENTORS ANDRE G. FAFFART SERGE M. RENOUX Hem w. Hoe/ 5 ATTORNEY Oct. 4, 1966 A. G. FAFFART ETAL 3,277,410

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC RELAY COMPRISING A NUMBER OF BRIDGE CONTACTS CARRIED BY A SLIDING BAR 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 31, 1964 INVENTORS ANDR e. FAFFART SERGE M. RENOUX KHRL C4)- ILOC/(s ATTORNEY United States Patent 5 Claims. (a. 335-132 The present invention concerns improvements in electromagnetic relays having a number of bridge contacts mounted in parallel on a sliding bar, which is moved against a return spring, by an electr c-magnet situated behind the sliding bar.

A great many of such relays which may be mounted on control boards or in control cubicles are employed for automatic operation of machines.

Relays of that type are already known in which the assembly of stationary and moving contacts (with the sliding bar which supports them) constitutes a block which is fixed on the electro-magnet. In this case, access to the electro-magnet for repair or replacement involves dismantling the block and, in consequence, that of the connections at the stationary contacts, and this takes time and involves risk of mistakes.

To rectify this inconvenient feature, it has been proposed to make removable only the sliding bar and movable contacts which it carries, while, through the slot which is left by the removal of the sliding bar, it is possible to extract the fiat coil of the electro-magnet associated with a part of the fixed magnetic circuit thereof.

In the known construction just described, the movable part of the electr-o-magnet remains inaccessible unless tools are used. Besides this inconvenient feature, such a construction is not very satisfactory, as the guide of the sliding bar ought necessarily to be able to be opened at the front and ought to have a suitable cross-section to allow removal of the sliding bar, and in practice this imposes a rectangular cross-section on the sliding bar and its guide channel. In addition, the bottom of the guide channel should be open to allow the passage of the elements of electro-magnets, which reduces still more the effectiveness of guides. Finally, these elements of electro-magnet cannot have a thickness greater than that of the sliding bar.

The present invention provides a relay without the inconvenient features just described and brings, in addition, other improvements to relays having a sliding bar carrying bridge contacts.

According to a principal particular feature of the invention, the relay comprises a fundamentally prismatic housing in which is situated the electro-magne't, the housing carrying, along the two parallel edges, the stationary contacts, while the sliding bar carrying the movable contacts is enclosed in a guide provided with openings for the co-operation of this sliding bar with the electro-magnet and that of movable contacts with stationary contacts, which guide also closes the opening of the housing.

Such a construction provides several advantages: firstly, the opening of the housing permitting the introduction of the electro-magnet can be of any desired dimension. In addition, it permits the assembly of an element of the sliding bar and of its guide with end of stroke stops and its return spring, so that the elements of the guide being fixed end to end, several elements of the sliding bar can be operated by the same electro-magnet, without it being necessary to assemble end to end the said elements of the sliding bar.

3,277,410 Patented Oct. 4, 1966 Moreover, the cross-section of the sliding bars can be ment, in particular, the sliding bars can comprise lateral ribs co-operating with grooves in the guide, which reduces the dimensions of the friction surfaces. The external form of the guide being arbitrarily chosen, provided that it adapts itself to the opening of the container, can include, between the movable contacts carried by the sliding bar, stiffening and partitioning fins which are adapted in shape to the opening of the container.

Finally, the sliding bars and their guides can be suitably arranged as it has been described in the specification of U8. application No. 272,361 .filed on April 11, 1963. As is described in that specification, to obtain the constant pressure of the bridges of movable contacts on the stationary contacts, each bridge of the movable contact is carried by an arm articulated perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the sliding bar and is acted upon by a spring supported by a lever articulated in parallel with the said lever arm which is supported on a fixed boss.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the housing cross-section, and in consequence, its opening, are in the form of a cross, with equal arms, and the magnetic circuit of the electro-magnet is formed in two parts of U-shape (a yoke and an armature) facing each other and articulated one on the other at one of their ends. The rectangular flat coil of the electro-magnet is wound on facing arms of the said U- shaped parts removed from their articulation axis, while the magnetic circuit is engaged in the cross-shaped opening in parallel with the sliding bar and the coil perpendicularly to the latter, and while the sections of the elements of the circuit and of the coil are adapted to the dimensions of the cross-shaped section.

Preferably, in addition, in this encasing of the electromagnet in the housing, a resilient device pushes the fixed part or the yoke of the magnetic circuit towards the movable part, so thatthe internal face of the yoke is pressed against the coil and the latter is in its turn pressed against the internal faces of the part of the cross-shaped cavity containing the said coil, which are turned towards the a yoke.

only the housing of the embodiment,

FIG. 2 is a cross-section on the line IIII of FIG. 1,

FIG. 2a is a detail of FIG. 2 on a larger scale,

FIGS. 3 and 4 are respectively cross-sections on the lines IIIIII of FIG. 2 and IV-IV of FIG. 1,

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective of a stationary contact mechanism,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a detail, and,

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the assembly of the detail shown in FIG.'6.

The complete relay, shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, comprises a hollow support in the form of a housing A constructed in insulating rigid material, which, by means of screws 1 which traverse the base,'can be attached to a control board, directly or through the intermediary of a strip 2, which is itself fixed to the control board by means of screws 3 (FIG. 4).

The housing A (FIG. 3) comprises a prismatic base A whose cross-section is in a form of a cross, topped by a larger part A formed (FIG. id) of two parallel parts 4, castellated and ribbed, in which are seated stationary contacts D. At the ends of these parallel parts (FIG. 2), the part A comprises two full walls 5 and 6,

while in the transverse direction (FIG. 4) are apertures 7 to allow access to the screws 1.

In the cross-shaped prismatic cavity of the housing is placed an electro-magnet having a flat, rectangular coil B and a two-part magnetic circuit, i.e. a fixed part or yoke C and the movable part of armature C The two parts C C are articulated one on the other, the coil B being engaged on facing arms 8 and 9 of the yoke and the armature respectively, each arm being of a length about equal to half of the thickness of the coil (FIG. 2). The coil B is supported on a central part 10 of the yoke C and on a foot 11 of the latter, so that after the assembly has been slipped into the container A, a leaf spring 12, supported on the wall and against the back of the yoke C presses the side of the coil which is on the opposite side from the yoke, through the intermediary of parts and 11, against the surfaces 13 (FIGS. 1a and 2) of the cross-shaped cavity of the housing.

The spring 12 is retained at the bottom of the cavity by a strip 12a held in an opening of the wall of the housing.

At the bottom of this cavity, the yoke C rests on a resilient pad 14 (FIG. 2) held in place by a button 14a located in slot 15 in the bottom of the housing.

The coil and the yoke occupying three arms of the crossshaped cavity, the fourth arm being occupied by the armature C which, at rest, abuts against a resilient element 16 mounted on the housing wall.

It will be noticed that because the relay is A.C. operated, the two parts C and C are formed by a stack of magnetic plates assembled between cheeks and that a dephasing ring 17 (FIG. 2) is arranged on one of the polar surfaces of-the yoke.

The two ends of the coil B (FIG. 4) are connected to two stout conductors 20 bent at right angles, and located in insulated studs 21, which are integral with the coil covering. The conductors 20 are arranged in slots 22 (FIG. 1a) of the castellated parts 4 of the housing and they are provided with terminal connectors 23 similar to the stationary contact connectors D which Will be described further on.

To ensure articulation of the yoke and of the armature, the yoke arm 24 is provided with a synthetic resin shoe 25, a part 25a of which is collar-shaped and surrounds the said arm, and it attached to it by a dovetailshaped heel 25b (FIG. 2). On the opposite side to this heel, the collar-shaped part 25a passes beyond the'polar surface of the arm 24 and thus constitutes, with this surface, an inset seat for a ledge 27a of the armature arm 27.

On the projecting part 25c of the shoe is hooked a stirrup-shaped part 28 which is held by a compression spring 29 supported between the projecting surface 250 and a button 30 on a transverse part 28: of the stirrupshaped part 28. On this stirrup-shaped part, the armature C is articulated by means of a pin 33 which passes through an extension 32 of armature C This arrangement enables the two parts C and C to be separated sufliciently to permit the insertion of the coil and it allows also the polar surfaces of these parts to mate closely with each other.

On the opposite side to the articulation assembly, the armature C carries an extension 35 attached by a rivet 38 and details of which are given later. The extension 35 operates the contacts as will be made clear later.

The electro-magnet which had been described is enclosed in the housing by a guide part G containing an element of a sliding bar H. The guide G is provided with strengthening and stiffening fins 40 and 41 which fit into correspondingly shaped seats in the upper part of the housing A.

The sliding bar H (FIG. 3) is a shallow prismatic element formed from two lateral walls 42 having ribs 43 sliding in slots of the guide G and transverse partitions 44, 45 and 46 (FIG. 2). The central partitions 45 and 46 are thickened up as at 47 and 48 respectively, and the partition 45 also has a small triangular projection 49.

The sliding bar H is biassed by a spring 50 which is supported between the partition 46 of the sliding bar and a wing of an inserted, right-angled part 51 attached by a screw 52 to the guide G. The right-angled part 51 has an extension 51a for the extraction, by hand, of the assembly of the sliding bar and the guide. Thus, butting the partitions 45 and 46 against the wing of the rightangled part 51 (for the latter by intermediary of the compressed spring 50) limits, in the two directions, the movement of the sliding bar H in its guide G and prevents the separation of the two elements.

The sliding bar mounts, in addition, transverse pins 53 on which are hooked identical movable contact elements K and K In FIG. 2, element K is mounted as an operate contact, while element K is a rest contact. Each element comprises a contact arm 54 and a lever 55 articulated by their hooked ends which engage pin 53 and are held apart by a spring 56.

Element K is shown in a position in which the lever 55 is held, by means of -a stop (not shown) with which it is provided, against the extremities 58a of slots '58 in the edges of the walls 42 of the sliding bar H, so that the contact arm moves simply toward the lever 55.

With element K the said stops move freely into the slots 58 and the corresponding lever 55 rests against one of the bosses 60 of the guide G.

Thus, as it is explained in the specification previously referred to, in the direction of engagement of the relay, the pressure of the movable operate contacts against the stationary contacts increases with the movement of the sliding bar H, while in the direction of disengagement, the pressure on the stationary rest contacts varies little (starting from the moment of contact between movable and stationary contact studs), in spite of the movement of the sliding bar towards its rest position.

One of the stationary contacts D with which co-operate the movable elements K K is shown in FIG. 5. This stationary contact is constituted by a blade 66, cut out, cut and machined, so as to constitute two connectors, a contact stud, a flexible lock and a fixing device.

The lower part or foot 60a of the plate is of U-shape and is intended to enclose the slotted rims 61 (FIGS. la and 3) of the parts 4 of the housing A. This U-shaped part is traversed by a screw 62 which, engaged in tapped hole 63 ensures tightening in position of the stationary contact, and by means of plate 64, the fixing in position of a conductor terminating at this stationary contact.

The U-shaped part 6011 is integral with a right-angled part 6011 having parts 65 which constitute a knife type connector for a wire provided with a clamp or suitable connection clip which slides over the knife edge. The stud of the stationary contact 66 is placed on the other arm of the right-angled part and below this stud is cut out a tooth-shaped projection 67 which, when the U-shaped part 60a is in place on the rim 61, locates in a groove 68 (FIGS. 1a and 3) of the side of the housing A which, even before tightening of the screw 62, flexibly locks the stationary contact and, after the tightening, prevents pulling away of this stationary contact D. By turning the assembly 54, 55, 56 and by permutati-ng the two corresponding stationary contacts D, there is provided a rest contact and an operate contact.

As has already been mentioned, the terminals 23 of the coil B are similar to assemblies D, but lack contact studs 66 and teeth 67.

As already indicated, the sliding bar H is operated by the cast extension 35 of the armature C this extension, which is of the right-angled shape, ends in the angular space bounded by the polar surfaces of parts C and C in their separated position and in the plane of metry of these two parts by a button 70 compr1s1ng (FIG. 2a) rounded lateral faces 71 which insert themselves between the faces 47a and 48a of the thickenedup parts 47 and 48 of the partitions 45 and 46.

Thus, the rocking of the armature around the ledge 27a brings about a translational movement of the sliding bar H in its guide with a minimum of slipping of surfaces 71 in contact with faces 47a and 48a, given that, in the mean position of the armature, the plane of symmetry of the button '76 passes closely through the rocking ledge 27a.

Moreover, the upper face of the button comprises two inclined opposite planes 72 and 73 Whose object is to guide the entry of the button into its seat or to help in preventing catching of contacts K (rest contacts) on the corresponding stationary contacts, when putting into position the assembly G, H, on the housing A.

Indeed, as FIGS. 2 and 2a show, when this assembly is brought into position, the plane 72 meets the slope 49a of the projections 49 which, the fins 40 of the guide G being already in position in the housing A, provokes the movement towards the left of FIG. 1 of the sliding bar H with respect to this guide; thus, the studs of the movable contacts K are momentarily separated from the studs of the stationary contacts and can come opposite without catching on them. Then, the return spring 50 makes the sliding bar H return in such a way that the face 72 of the button is placed above the slope 4%. While dismantling, the same movement of the sliding bar H is produced, this time involving face 74 and slope 49b.

The cast part 35 has also, on one side of the button, a lever 75 which, passing into an opening 101 of the guide G (FIG. 1) is accessible from the outside and permits operation by hand of the armature.

In order to maintain raised the assembly which had just been described, a lock U (FIGS. 4 and 6) is utilised, and this co-operates (FIG. 7) with the upper extremities Si (in the form of right-angled hooks facing each other) of the central partitions of the castellated parts 4. The lock U comprises two parallel links 81 terminating in right-angled hooks 81a. To place the lock, the links have openings 82, in which is placed one of the pairs of extremities 80 of partitions so that, by longitudinal sliding of the links in the direction of their length, the four hooks 81a of the links can be fitted simultaneously in the four hooks of the extremities St).

The links 81 are connected by a transverse part 83 whose extremities 84, bent at right angles, cover the movable contacts (K and K and protect them. In addition, the hollow parts 102 of the folded portions of the extremities 84 fit over bosses 41a (FIG. 1) of the fins 41 of the guide G, to prevent untoward slipping of the lock after it had been put in place.

It is obvious that modification can be carried out to the means of construction described, in particular by substitution of equivalent technical means, without in so doing going beyond the scope of the present invention.

What We claim is:

1. An electromagnetically operated relay comprising a housing having an open-ended cavity and two parallel edges bounding the open end of said cavity; an electromagnet, insertable through said open end, located in said cavity; fixed electrical connections carried along said parallel edges; a removable guide member secured on said housing between said parallel edges and normally closing said open end of said cavity, said guide member having a fluted hole, a bar having guide ribs for slidable co- 6 operation With said flute in said hole; movable electrical contacts on said bar for co-operation with said fixed electrical contacts and armature means associated with said electro-magnet for operating said slidable bar.

2. An electromagnetically operated relay comprising a housing having an open-ended cavity the walls of which are substantially parallel to one direction, two parallel facing edges bounding said open end of said cavity and having notches in said one direction; an electro-magnet, slidably insertable through said open end, located in said cavity; fixed electrical contacts mounted on said parallel edges between said notches; a removable guide member mounted on said housing between said edges and normally closing said open end of said cavity, said guide member having stiffening fins adapted for insertion into said notches, a bar slidably mounted in said guide member and removable therewith from the housing; movable electrical contacts carried by said bar in spaced configuration between said stiffening fins for co-operation with said fixed electrical contacts; and armature means associated with said electro-magnet for operating said slidable bar.

3. An electromagnetically-operated relay comprising a housing having an open-ended rectilinear cavity of crossshaped cross-section and two parallel facing edges bounding said open end of said cavity; fixed electrical contacts mounted on said parallel edges; an electro-magnet comprising a U-shaped yoke, an energizing coil carried by one branch of said yoke and an armature pivotally carried by the second branch of said yoke, said electro-magnet being insertable in said cavity with said coil mounted in said cavity in aligned arms of the cross-section transverse to said edges, said yoke being located with said second arm towards the bottom of said cavity, in one of the remaining arms of said cross-section, said armature being housed in the other of said remaining arms; a removable guide member mounted on said housing and normally closing said open end of said cavity, a member slidably mounted in said guide member and removable therewith from the housing, movable electrical contacts mounted on said member for co-operation with said fixed electrical contacts and an operating linkage connected between said armature and said slidably mounted member.

4. A relay as claimed in claim 3 and further comprising on said guide member adjacent the central part thereof, two fin-like extensions, and slots in said housing for receiving said fin-like extensions, said fin-like extensions corresponding with the outer face of said energising coil and touching said sides.

5. A relay as claimed in claim 3, wherein said facing edges are castellated, said guide member comprises portions insertable into recesses of said castellated edges and protruding portions of said edges have notches correspond ing in level with the outer face of said guide-member, further comprising a locking member contacting said outer face and provided with lateral extensions engaging said notches.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,198,910 8/1965 Burch et al 200104 BERNARD A. GILHEANY, Primary Examiner.

B. DOBEC-K, Acting Examiner.

R. N. ENV'ALL, ]R., Assistant Examiner. 

3. AN ELECTROMAGNETICALLY-OPERATED RELAY COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING AN OPEN-ENDED RECTILINEAR CAVITY OF CROSSSHAPED CROSS-SECTION AND TWO PARALLEL FACING EDGES BOUNDING SAID OPEN END OF SAID CAVITY; FIXED ELECTRICAL CONTACTS MOUNTED ON SAID PARALLEL EDGES; AN ELECTRO-MAGNET COMPRISING A U-SHAPED YOKE, AN ENERGIZING COIL CARRIED BY ONE BRANCH OF SAID YOKE AND AN ARMATURE PIVOTALLY CARRIED BY THE SECOND BRANCH OF SAID YOKE, SAID ELECTRO-MAGNET BEING INSERTABLE IN SAID CAVITY WITH SAID COIL MOUNTED IN SAID CAVITY IN ALIGNED ARMS OF THE CROSS-SECTION TRANSVERSE TO SAID EDGES, SAID YOKE BEING LOCATED WITH SAID SECOND ARM TOWARDS THE BOTTOM OF SAID CAVITY, IN ONE OF THE REMAINING ARMS OF SAID CROSS-SECTION, SAID ARMATURE BEING HOUSED IN THE OTHER OF SAID REMAINING ARMS; A REMOVABLE GUIDE MEMBER MOUNTED ON SAID HOUSING AND NORMALLY 